1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to grease and splatter guards for ranges and stoves to protect the burner controls during cooking.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is commonly experienced, the cooking of food within open pans and utensils upon a range or stove often results in liquids within the pan, such as grease, splattering from the pan upon the range cooking surface, and adjacent surfaces, such as counters, risers and other range components. Such splattering often contaminates the burner control knobs which may be mounted behind the cooking surface, or may be located at the forward edge of the range cooking surface. As the burner controls protrude, and are disposed adjacent each other, cleaning around the control knobs to wipe up the splattered grease is troublesome and difficult, and careless cleaning results in unhygienic conditions.
As grease splatter is commonly experienced during cooking, various attempts have been made to control this problem. A variety of shields have been proposed for mounting upon the cooking surface of ranges and stoves for confining grease splatter, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,836,171; 4,157,705 and 4,237,856. Also, it is known to use splatter guards in ovens, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,037,581 and 4,747,392 wherein a dome or similar cover is designed to extend over the cooking food. The devices shown in these patents are of a rigid nature, not readily storable, often require expensive range modification and accommodation, and in themselves, are difficult to clean and maintain in a hygienic condition.
Splatter guards and covers of the type previously known are, generally, unsatisfactory, and until the advent of the invention a practical, low cost, easily cleanable grease shield or splatter guard has not been available to the general public.